First Kiss
by Durbe the Barian
Summary: The Tenjos are having a little Christmas Eve dinner. Simple, right? Mmm...no. Co-written by justanotherdreamgirl.


**Zexal Oneshot:**

**First Kiss**

**Romance/Humor**

**Kaito/Rio**

**The Tenjos are having a little Christmas Eve dinner. Simple, right? Mmm...no. Co-written by justanotherdreamgirl.**

**(Neither one of us own Zexal. We're just really silly fans who enjoy making our favorite Number Hunter suffer. XD )**

* * *

First Kiss

* * *

"Nii-san, am I doing this right?" Haruto asked from the kitchen.

He was standing on the step stool, an apron draped over his tiny frame. In his batter-covered hands was a whisk and metal bowl respectively. He'd been attempting to make a cake for the Christmas party and so far, he was having a very rough time of it.

Kaito walked into the kitchen and nearly yelped at the state of it. Cake batter on the walls, flour on the counter, cracked eggs near the sink. In hindsight, believing that Haruto could handle himself in the kitchen was probably not the best idea. While Haruto was, yes, very eager to help his brother with the Christmas dinner preparations, Kaito was beginning to think that maybe letting him handle scissors and cut out little decorations would have been a better idea. At the very least, he would have had to handle treating paper cuts instead of cake batter.

Hardened cake batter.

Kaito nearly slapped his forehead. "I screwed up again, didn't I?" Haruto asked with a smile. "You can be honest, Nii-san."

"Well, you look like you've been having some trouble," Kaito admitted. He didn't have the heart to list Haruto's faults. He was just grateful Haruto didn't ask to help with dinner. "Want me to give you a hand now?"

"No, Nii-san," Haruto said, giving his brother a head shake. "I've got it."

"Okay then," Kaito said.

Then he was watched as Haruto finished handling the cake, pouring the batter into a cake pan and placing the pan in the oven so it could cook. Then Haruto wiped the sweat off his brow. "I did it!" he said happily.

Kaito smiled. The he walked over to Haruto and pulled him off the step stool. "Now let's get you cleaned up," he said. "You're a mess."

Haruto whined, but complied and went to the bathroom. Then Kaito got to work with cleaning the kitchen. It was a total mess. He was going to have to remind Haruto about the 'clean as you work' rule sometime. The messes were becoming a little too much for him.

* * *

A little later, Kaito got to work with the decorations for Christmas. While they were having a small Christmas dinner, just Haruto and himself, as Dr. Faker was going to be running late, Haruto begged for the decorations to be put up. Finally, Kaito caved and got to work.

As he was putting up some decorations, all the while standing on a very rickety step stool, Haruto said the one thing that totally rendered Kaito flustered.

"Hey, Nii-san, I've got most of the mistletoe up! Wanna see it?"

Initially, Kaito failed to hear the fatal word. Because of that, he said, "Sure, Haruto." But as soon as he realized what the heck his brother said, Kaito jerked his head towards the source of Haruto's voice, attempted to say, "Mistletoe?!" and fell off the step stool with a loud 'THUD.' Instantly, Haruto raced into the living room and looked at him. "Nii-san! Are you okay?!" he asked worriedly.

Kaito forced himself up. (He made a mental note to buy a better step stool the next chance he got.) "I'm fine," he said. "And you are not putting any mistletoe up. You're going to take it down and put it right back where you found it."

"Why?" Haruto asked. "Dad said that it was traditional to have mistletoe up around this time of year. And besides, it smells pretty."

That time, Kaito DID slap his forehead. "Haruto," he began, "there's something about the mistletoe that you don't really understand. I need you to take it down."

"You mean that thing that if a boy and a girl are under it, they have to kiss?" Haruto asked innocently.

Kaito's face went bright red. Where on earth did he learn about THAT?!

Apparently, Kaito's face was easily readable, as Haruto got on his tip toes and stared his brother in the eye. "Are you worried that you and Rio-neechan will get under it accidentally?" he asked, just as innocently as before.

Steam nearly flew out of Kaito's ears when Haruto asked that. Then he sighed and rubbed his cherry red face. "Haruto," he began, "where did you learn this stuff?"

"Alit-san was telling me all about it," Haruto explained.

Naturally. It just had to be the Battlin' Boxer Barian.

"And then Gilag-san mentioned that you had a 'crush' on Rio-neechan," Haruto continued.

Kaito stopped him before Haruto could say anything more. "Okay," he breathed, turning Haruto around and leading him to his room. "Go to your room and get cleaned up for dinner."

"Man," Haruto whined.

"Just do it," Kaito said. Then he watched as Haruto walked into his room. His arms were folded over his chest as Haruto reached for the doorknob.

Then Haruto grinned and asked his brother the fatal question.

"You like Rio-neechan, don't you?"

"Just get dressed," Kaito said sternly.

Haruto then quickly shut the door, fearing his brother would raise his voice at him.

Then Kaito walked into the kitchen and fell into a chair. How pathetic. Yes, he had a crush on her. In fact, he **had** a crush on her ever since the war with the Barians had ended. It must have been really obvious, though, if his little brother could figure it out. Heck, if **Gilag** could figure out, then it HAD to have been blatantly obvious. A sigh escaped the Number Hunter as he tried to calm himself down.

Naturally, he was failing.

Instead, Rio's face kept popping into his head.

What a day. What else could go wrong?

* * *

"...so that's why I think it would be a great idea to celebrate Christmas by throwing a dueling tournament!" Yuma finished excitedly. "What do you two think?"

Rio's smile hadn't faded a bit the entire time Yuma explained his idea for a Christmas present for his friends. However, Ryoga had resorted to covering his ears just to spare them of his rambling. How Yuma could jabber on for an entire hour in the middle of winter without asking for a glass of water, he'd never know.

"I think that's a great idea, Yuma," Rio said. "It sounds fun. What do you think, Ryoga?"

She looked over to her twin brother, her smile still strong on her face. The boy in question, however, simply grunted. "I don't care," he said. "Just as long as I don't have to get roped into it."

"Ggggreat!" Yuma exclaimed, jumping into the air. Then he noticed that they were walking right past the Tenjo house. (No. Not the tower.) "Hey! I'll go see if Kaito wants to join!"

Rio was two seconds away from telling Yuma that he was probably preparing dinner, since it was around 5 PM, but before she so much as had a chance, he was down the sidewalk and jumping up the stairs.

Then came the trouble.

Just as he started climbing up the very last step, Yuma hit his foot against the stone step and was thrown forward. Then he rolled through the door, (Knocking the object in question off its hinges.) and across the floor. He was only able to stop when he neared the kitchen.

And Haruto.

"Haruto, what happened out there?!" Kaito shouted, racing out of the kitchen to figure out what had happened. Then he sweat dropped. "Yuma, what are you doing? And why is the door knocked down?"

Yuma got up and started chuckling. "Oh, well, you know, I was passing by and I'd thought I'd say hi."

Kaito folded his arms across his chest. "What do you need, Yuma?" he asked.

"Well, you see," Yuma began.

Then Haruto smiled. "Hey, Yuma," he began, "wanna join us for a Christmas Eve dinner? Dad's not gonna be here until late, so do you wanna join us?"

Kaito didn't have time to object before Yuma got up and nodded his head vigorously. "Yeah, sure!" he said. "Just give me a second. I'll go and get Shark and Rio."

"Rio?" Kaito asked, his face adopting the red tint again.

"Yeah," Yuma said. "I was talking with the two of them before I dropped in."

"More like 'rolled in,'" Haruto chuckled.

"You know what I mean," Yuma said. Then he started for the outside, tripping on the door and out the doorway.

Kaito sighed and slapped his head. "What an idiot," he mumbled.

"This is going to be a great Christmas," Haruto said happily.

* * *

"WHAT?!" Ryoga asked, his voice loud enough to scare the birds away.

"You heard me," Yuma said. "Haruto and Kaito invited us to dinner."

"Really?" Rio asked, her face a cherry red.

"I'm not going," Ryoga said. "I'd sooner eat peppers."

Rio grabbed his arm just as he was starting to walk away. "Ryoga," she said slowly. "Come on. It'll be fun."

"No way," went Ryoga.

His tough guy act, however, didn't hold out for long when two things happened.

His stomach growled.

And his sister gave him a look that would kill.

The three of them entered the Tenjo house and Yuma raised his hand in the air. "Alright, Kaito, Haruto," Yuma said. "We are here to chow down!"

Kaito simply stared Yuma down. "Dinner's not going to be ready for another 15 minutes, Yuma," he said.

"Oh," went Yuma. "Okay then."

Kaito sighed. Then Haruto walked up to Rio and took her hand. "Hey, Rio-neechan," he said.

"Hello, Haruto," Rio said happily. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing pretty good. Nii-san's been keeping an eye on me."

Rio looked over to Kaito, just as Kaito looked over to her. Then the two of them quickly diverted their attention to the kitchen and the carpet respectively. Meanwhile, Ryoga decided to keep a close eye on the both of them.

A veeeeeery close eye on the both of them.

* * *

About 15 minutes later, Kaito told everybody to sit down at the table while he got the plates and utensils so they could eat. "I'll help you," Rio said, jumping up from her seat to go and give him assistance.

"Rio," Ryoga said slowly.

"I'm just going to give him a hand," Rio said with a wink. Then she ran into the kitchen and tapped Kaito's shoulder.

Kaito turned around, his normal expression gracing his face. "What is it?" he asked.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked with a smile.

Kaito chuckled. Then he pulled out some plates from the cupboard and handed them to her. "Here," he said. "You can take these to the table."

"Okay," Rio said.

She was about to take the plates from his hands, but the two of them froze for a moment.

The air around the two of them suddenly shifted and froze, becoming a whole other world for just them. And them alone.

Neither Kaito nor Rio understood why they started to lean closer to each other, nor did they think as they closed their eyes.

Their world had grown warmer than it usually was.

It was perfect...

"Rio!"

It was shattered.

Kaito and Rio pulled themselves away from each other and looked over to Ryoga. His face was scarlet with anger, something that simply made the two before them chuckle. "Get away from my sister, Kaito," Ryoga snapped/growled.

Rio then took the plates from Kaito's hands and walked to the table. Then Kaito proceeded to get the dinner on the table, all the while keeping his eyes directed to Rio. Likewise, Rio kept her eyes on him.

* * *

After dinner, Yuma and Ryoga started chatting very loudly, almost arguing. Out of the three bystanders in the room, only Haruto was enjoying himself, just watching the two of them. To be honest, they didn't even know what they were arguing about. It was initially a simple chat about dueling and then it evolved into they-didn't-know-what.

While it was an annoying argument that could have very easily been settled in a duel, it also served as an excellent smoke screen.

For something very special.

While Haruto was busy laughing at the two arguing duelists, Kaito walked over to Rio. "Hey, Rio," he said.

Rio's attention was pulled to Kaito. If she didn't know any better, she'd think she was smiling. "Think you can come with me for a minute?"

Rio froze, but quickly accepted. Then she took his hand, her body growing warm again with his touch. Then the two of them started for the outside of the house.

A place where they could have some peace.

A place away from the 'arguing duo.'

* * *

Kaito and Rio were sitting down in the garden outside, underneath the sakura tree Kaito's mother had grown. (She was a spectacular gardener.) "So, Kaito-kun," Rio began, "what did you want to talk about? You wouldn't have brought me out here simply because Ryoga was being loud."

"Well, that's true," Kaito said. He leaned back against the bend the two of them were sitting on and placed his hands behind his head.

Rio scooted closer. "So?" she asked.

Kaito looked over to her, his face adopting a red tint. She was a heck of a lot closer than she was a few seconds ago. She also looked a heck of a lot prettier with the moonlight hitting her face like that. (Bad Kaito! Bad!) Kaito gently scratched his face as his other hand reached into his pockets. "Well," he said, "I just wanted to give you something." He held a present out to her. "It would have been hard with your brother keeping an eye on us."

"That's true," Rio said, her face adopting the red tint as well. She took the present into her slender fingers. Then she opened it up.

Then she gasped.

It was a necklace with a cerulean crystal on the end, specks of garnet red bleeding through it with the moonlight. Her eyes widened as she took the beautiful piece of jewelry in. "Whoa," she breathed, for lack of a better word. "Where did you get something like this?"

Kaito leaned back again. "Well, to be honest, Orbital helped me out," he said.

"How could a clumsy robot like him help you out?" Rio asked.

Kaito gave her a slight smile. "He helped be out because he was clumsy," he said. "Remember when we all went to Barian World to get you and Ryoga back? And Orbital broke some Baria Crystals?"

"How could I forget?" Rio asked in reply. "It blinded Don Thousand for a minute there."

Kaito chuckled at the memory. "Well, that was a souvenir, you might say," he said. "It turned blue after all its power drained out, and I thought it would suit you. Merry Christmas."

Rio giggled slightly and looked at the necklace some more. Then she looked over to Kaito with a happy smile on her face. "Thank you, Kaito," she said, pulling the leather strap over her head.

That brought a smile to Kaito's face as well.

A look was shared between the two for a few moments before Rio's eyes were directed above them. Then she gasped and covered her mouth. "What?" went Kaito.

He looked up. Instantly, the two shared the same cherry red face.

Above them was a mistletoe.

"I thought I told Haruto to take all of them down," Kaito mumbled.

"Maybe he forgot about that one," Rio giggled.

They looked back down to each other, the red in their faces beginning to fade away.

Silence.

Blissful silence.

Soft grey gazed into deep pink.

Then a positively devious idea clicked in both their minds, as proven by the soft smiles that appeared on their faces.

Their eyes began to close as the two began to close the gap that had been left between them. Kaito was mentally counting down, while Rio was just daring her brother to come out to look for her. Both couldn't wait to see Ryoga's reaction to this.

Suddenly, the sound of a car pulling into the Tenjo driveway pulled the two of them out of their 'kiss' and forced them to turn around.

Imagine their surprise when Dr. Faker stepped out of his vehicle, surprise painting his face. "Kaito?" he asked. "What are you doing?"

"I thought you said you were going to be late today," Kaito said, his eyes wide with horror.

"I was able to get off earlier than I thought," Dr. Faker said slowly. "What were you two doing?"

Both Kaito and Rio were at a loss for words. Then Dr. Faker heard the sound of arguing in the house. Sounded like Ryoga was losing. Then he looked at the mistletoe that hung above them. That, in turn, forced the doctor into a bout of laughter.

Then THAT caused the two to sweat drop.

"Never mind me," Dr. Faker said, walking into the house. "Go back to what you were doing."

Just like that, he was gone.

All that was in his wake was two very embarrassed teenagers.

"Sometimes, I'll never understand what goes through his mind," Kaito said.

Then he looked back to Rio, who in turn, gave him a smile. Then the two of them leaned closer again, closing their eyes as they prepared themselves again. This time, however, it was for real.

And this time, there was nobody to stop them.

* * *

"Rio!" Shark called, walking out of the house with his palm next to his face. "Rio! It's time we went home. Rio-"

Then he paused.

His face wore an expression of pure terror when he noticed what his sister and Kaito were doing. It was hardly something one could miss. Rio's hands were placed on Kaito's shoulders, while Kaito's arms were wrapped around Rio's waist.

And to make matters worse, they were _kissing_.

Under mistletoe.

And they seemed to be _enjoying _it!

No. Spare him. It looked way too romantic for Ryoga to watch. Maybe it was just a bad dream. He gave his eyes a quick rub and even pinched himself to test his theory.

No luck.

It was real.

The winter breeze carried the silence for a moment. Two birds had perched near the mistletoe and were singing a bright and cheery song.

And if Ryoga didn't know any better, it was a love song.

That did it.

Silence broken.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"

* * *

**D.T.B: Yay! Diamondshipping Christmas special is FINISHED! XD**

**J.A.D.G: Yay. It's finished! I'm so happy!**

**Sirius: First, help us! Second, review the story. Or don't. Maybe these girls will get the hint and leave us alone.**

**Both D.T.B and J.A.D.G: Stop it, Sirius!**

**Sirius: YIKES!**


End file.
